Syrup-makers go high-tech with wireless monitoring

MILTON, Vt. — Maple syrup production has come a long way from metal buckets hung on trees, but even high-tech operations have had to rely on old-fashioned foot patrols to fix a common problem — leaks.

The tubes that draw sap from trees straight to sugar houses often get pulled down or bent by falling limbs or chewed by critters, meaning sugar-makers spend hours and sometimes days stomping through snowy woods to find and fix problems — a big time-waster in a sugaring season that lasts just a few weeks.

But now sugar-makers are harnessing new technology to keep the precious sap flowing.

Meadowbrook Maple Syrup in January installed a monitoring system that is already paying off. Designed to help mid-to-large scale syrup producers keep an electronic eye their sap vacuum lines, the Tap Track system consists of solar battery-powered radio units strapped to trees, with each unit monitoring the pressure on a half-dozen lines. The data is transmitted to a computer or smartphone, where it shows up as a map with green dots indicating lines with good sap flow and red dots indicating leaks. Users can even get text messages alerting them to problems.

"I think it's the thing of the future. I really do," owner Donnie Richards said.

In the past, Richards and his crew would have to walk the woods of Milton listening and looking for leaks, which was time-consuming.

"And if you didn't find the leak that day, you didn't get sap off that part of the woods all day long," he said.

Now he uses his iPhone to check the system and can immediately see a leak and when it is repaired.

Richards' operation includes about 5,000 taps, with about 18 miles of tubing spread out over more than 100 acres. The new system costs $1 to $2 per tap, but inventor Jason Gagne said the return on investment can be seen in one season. He said the test site of 20,000 taps in Ontario resulted in a more than 5 percent increase in sap collection, or an extra $15,000.

Gagne, who used to spend days on end patrolling his own sugar bush in Swanton, came up with the idea several years ago, teaming up with Canadian sugar-maker Doug Thompson to develop the product.

The University of Vermont's Proctor Maple Research Center is using a similar remote monitoring system for the first time this season, as the technology becomes more commercially available. Smartrek, produced by a Quebec-based company, also monitors sap lines for leaks and provides the information immediately on a smartphone or tablet.

Nationally, maple syrup production totaled 3.25 million gallons last year. Vermont led with 1.3 million gallons, followed by New York, Maine, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Each of those gallons of syrup required sugar-makers to collect 40 gallons of sap.

It takes warm days and cold nights for sap to flow, so the conditions are just right for syrup-making for only about 4 to 6 weeks. And cold weather has already pushed back Vermont's season this year. But Proctor researchers expect the new system to make their operation more efficient and productive. It will also give sugar-makers, who are prone to staying up late to boil sap down to syrup, a few extra hours of sleep, said Brian Stowe, Proctor's sugaring operations manager.

"We find that a lot of sugar-makers get sleep deprived during the season, this again they can take a quick look from their house and then they can go to bed and get some good sleep and not have to worry," Stowe said.

The ideal system would have a sensor at the end of each of the main lines. But that can be expensive for some sugar-makers — about $200 per Smartrek vacuum sensor and $400 for a tank level sensor — so some sugar-makers may start with a smaller number depending on what they want to monitor.

"Whether it's mine or Tap Track of any of the other systems, the technology is fantastic," said Eric Sorkin, of Thunder Basin Maple Works in Cambridge, who was so impressed with Smartrek that he became a distributor.

In the past, Sorkin said, the only way to increase production was to make sure sap is flowing in the system, and that meant lots of man-hours checking each line.

"With these remote monitoring systems, we can effectively lower our labor costs and increase our production," he said.

Gagne described an incident last year when his system showed a leak where a porcupine had cut the line. Just as workers had repaired the break, Tap Track showed another leak.

"You could follow the porcupine prints right to the next line where he'd cut it," he said. "Otherwise, it would have been a few more days before we found those two lines."

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AP sources: Health law sign-ups on track to hit 7M

WASHINGTON — Beating expectations, President Barack Obama's health care overhaul was on track to sign up more than 7 million Americans for health insurance on deadline day Monday, government officials told The Associated Press.

The 7 million target, thought to be out of reach by most experts, was in sight on a day that saw surging consumer interest as well as vexing computer glitches that slowed sign-ups on the HealthCare.gov website.

Two government officials confirmed the milestone, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter ahead of an official announcement.

Seven million was the original target set by the Congressional Budget Office for enrollment in taxpayer-subsidized private health insurance through new online markets created under Obama's signature legislation.

That was scaled back to 6 million after the disastrous launch of HealthCare.gov last fall. Several state-run websites also had crippling problems.

Americans who rushed to apply for health insurance Monday faced long, frustrating waits and a new spate of website ills on deadline day.

"This is like trying to find a parking spot at Wal-Mart on Dec. 23," said Jason Stevenson, working with a Utah nonprofit group helping people enroll.

At times, more than 125,000 people were simultaneously using HealthCare.gov, straining it beyond its capacity. For long stretches Monday, applicants were shuttled to a virtual waiting room where they could leave an email address and be contacted later.

Officials said the site had not crashed but was experiencing very heavy volume. The website, which was receiving 1.5 million visitors a day last week, had recorded about 2 million through 3 p.m. EDT. Call centers have more than 840,000 calls.

Supporters of the health care law fanned out across the country in a final dash to sign up uninsured Americans. People not signed up for health insurance by the deadline, either through their jobs or on their own, were subject to being fined by the IRS, and that threat was helping drive the final dash.

The administration announced last week that people still in line by midnight would get extra time to enroll.

The website stumbled early in the day — out of service for nearly four hours as technicians patched a software bug. Another hiccup in early afternoon temporarily kept new applicants from signing up, and then things slowed further. Overwhelmed by computer problems when launched last fall, the system has been working much better in recent months, but independent testers say it still runs slowly.

At Chicago's Norwegian American Hospital, people began lining up shortly after 7 a.m. to get help signing up for subsidized private health insurance.

Lucy Martinez, an unemployed single mother of two boys, said she'd previously tried to enroll at a clinic in another part of the city but there was always a problem. She'd wait and wait and they wouldn't call her name, or they would ask her for paperwork that she was told earlier she didn't need, she said. Her diabetic mother would start sweating so they'd have to leave.

She's heard "that this would be better here," said Martinez, adding that her mother successfully signed up Sunday at a different location.

At St. Francis Hospital in Wilmington, Del., enrollment counselor Hubert Worthen plunged into a long day. "I got my energy drink," he said. "This is epic, man."

At a Houston community center, there were immigrants from Ethiopia, Nepal, Eritrea, Somalia, Iraq, Iran and other conflict-torn areas, many of them trying anew after failing to complete applications previously. In addition to needing help with the actual enrollment, they needed to wait for interpreters. Many had taken a day off from work, hoping to meet the deadline.

The White House and other supporters of the law were hoping for an enrollment surge that would confound skeptics.

The insurance markets — or exchanges — offer subsidized private health insurance to people who don't have access to coverage through their jobs. The federal government is taking the lead in 36 states, while 14 other states plus Washington, D.C., are running their own enrollment websites.

New York, running its own site, reported more than 812,000 had signed up by Sunday morning, nearly 100,000 of them last week.

However, it's unclear what those numbers may mean.

The administration hasn't said how many of the 6 million people nationally who had signed up before the weekend ultimately closed the deal by paying their first month's premiums. Also unknown is how many were previously uninsured — the real test of Obama's health care overhaul. In addition, the law expands coverage for low-income people through Medicaid, but only about half the states have agreed to implement that option.

Cheering on the deadline-day sign-up effort, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius planned to spend much of the day Monday working out of the department's TV studio, conducting interviews by satellite with stations around the country.

Though March 31 was the last day officially to sign up, millions of people are potentially eligible for extensions granted by the administration.

Those include people who had begun enrolling by the deadline but didn't finish, perhaps because of errors, missing information or website glitches. The government says it will accept paper applications until April 7 and take as much time as necessary to handle unfinished cases on HealthCare.gov. Rules may vary in states running their own insurance marketplaces.

The administration is also offering special extensions to make up for all sorts of problems that might have kept people from getting enrolled on time: Natural disasters. Domestic abuse. Website malfunctions. Errors by insurance companies. Mistakes by application counselors.

To seek a special enrollment period, contact the federal call center, at 1-800-318-2596, or the state marketplace and explain what happened. It's on the honor system. If the extension is approved, that brings another 60 days to enroll.

Those who still don't get health insurance run the risk that the Internal Revenue Service will fine them next year for remaining uninsured. It remains to be seen how aggressively the penalties called for in the law are enforced.

Also, the new markets don't have a monopoly on health insurance. People not already covered by an employer or a government program can comply with the insurance mandate by buying a policy directly from an insurer. They'll just have to pay the full premium themselves, although in a few states there may be an exception to that rule as well.

Supporters of the law held their breath early Monday when the website was taken down.

In Oakton, Va., enrollment counselor Rachel Klein said she noticed the website was running slowly.

"We all came into it understanding that today was going to be challenging," said Klein. "We're all relieved that there's going to be a little extra time for people."

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio said Monday that Republicans remain committed to repealing Obama's law.

___

Associated Press writers Connie Cass in Washington, Don Babwin in Chicago, Randall Chase in Wilmington, Del., Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston, Michelle Price in Salt Lake City and Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, N.Y., contributed to this report.

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Global stocks mostly higher, Tokyo falls

TOKYO — Global stock markets were mostly higher Tuesday as the Fed's vow to keep interest rates low offset weak economic indicators from China and Japan.

European stocks were higher in early trading. Germany's DAX gained 0.4 percent to 9,597.86 and France's CAC-40 rose 0.6 percent to 4,417.27. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.4 percent to 6,624.37.

Wall Street was set to gain with S&P 500 futures up 0.1 percent at 1,867.20. Dow futures rose 0.2 percent to 16,399. Stock markets in the U.S. rose the day before after Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen said U.S. interest rates would stay low for some time and that momentum continued Tuesday.

But the Nikkei 225, the main index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange, closed down 0.2 percent at 14,791.99. Japan's sales tax rose Tuesday to 8 percent from 5 percent, a change needed to help stabilize government finances but also a possible setback for consumer demand and economic recovery. Separately, the central bank's quarterly business survey showed muted confidence that could affect spending and investment plans.

Other Asian markets largely shrugged off two surveys that showed weakness in China's manufacturing.

A factory purchasing managers' index released by the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing ticked up to 50.3 in March from 50.2 in February. Economists said the increase should have been bigger as factories ramped up after the Lunar New Year holiday in February.

Separately, HSBC's manufacturing index fell to 48.0 from 48.5, slightly worse than a preliminary report and its third consecutive monthly drop. Both indexes use a 100-point scale on which numbers above 50 indicate expansion.

HSBC said its reading implies that first quarter economic growth likely fell below the 7.5 percent rate that China's leaders have targeted for the full year.

Seoul's Kospi gained 0.3 percent to 1,991.98. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.1 percent to 5,389.17.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 1.3 percent to 22,338.54 and China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.7 percent to 2,047.46.

Koji Takeuchi, senior analyst at Mizuho Research Institute in Tokyo, said the Bank of Japan's weaker-than-expected "tankan" survey made the Tokyo market nervous about recent gains.

"There is some uncertainty about the future of the Japanese economy so people are being careful," he said.

That countered the recent upbeat mood, thanks to the weakening yen, a plus for the giant exporters of Japan Inc., and a rise in U.S. stocks, said Takeuchi.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3793 from $1.3776 late Monday. The dollar rose to 103.25 yen from 102.20 yen.

Benchmark U.S. crude for May delivery was down 27 cents at $101.31 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 9 cents to $101.58 on Monday.

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Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at twitter.com/yurikageyama

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GM, safety agency face Congress over recalls

DETROIT — General Motors' new CEO and the head of the nation's auto safety watchdog are headed to Congress to testify about a defect in small cars that is linked to 13 deaths.

In written testimony released ahead of a Tuesday House subcommittee hearing, acting National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chief David Friedman says GM had information connecting defective ignition switches to the non-deployment of air bags, but didn't share it until last month.

GM CEO Mary Barra will also testify. Committee members will press Barra and Friedman to explain why neither the company nor the safety agency moved to recall millions of small cars with a defective ignition switch, even though GM knew of the problem as early as 2001.

"Sitting here today, I cannot tell you why it took years for a safety defect to be announced in (the small car) program, but I can tell you that we will find out," Barra said in prepared testimony submitted to the subcommittee.

GM has recalled 2.6 million cars for the faulty switch. That recall prompted GM to name a new safety chief and review its recall processes.

GM continued its efforts to show regulators and consumers that it is more focused on safety, announcing the recall of 1.5 million more vehicles on Monday for a power steering problem.

With Monday's recall, GM has now recalled 6.3 million vehicles since February. GM estimates the actions will cost it $750 million.

The House hearing — and a separate one Wednesday before a Senate subcommittee — will likely be tense and emotional. At least a dozen family members of victims will attend, wearing blue shirts featuring a photo of 16-year-old Amber Marie Rose, who was killed in a 2005 Cobalt crash, and the words "Protect Our Children."

Barra will apologize for the loss of life, but may try to limit her answers to Congress, citing an ongoing internal review and government investigations.

"When we have answers, we will be fully transparent with you, with our regulators, and with our customers," she said in the prepared testimony.

Barra met with families of some of the victims on Monday, GM spokespeople said.

That could test the patience of committee members, who will want to know immediately why GM failed to protect its customers in this case.

Congress also wants to know if it needs to strengthen a 2000 law intended to improve communication between automakers and the government.

Here are some questions lawmakers are likely to ask Barra and Friedman, and why:

GM

Q: Why did it take so long to recall these vehicles?

GM's own timeline, provided to the government, indicates that it knew as early as 2001 that there were problems with the ignition switch in the Saturn Ion. That switch was later used in the Cobalt and other cars. GM eventually learned of accidents and fatalities linked to the switch, and conducted multiple reviews. Yet the cars were only recalled this year. Barra will need to explain why GM didn't act sooner.

Q: Why was a proposed fix never implemented?

According to a timeline prepared by the House subcommittee, GM engineers developed a fix for the switch in 2004, but it was canceled in 2005 because of its long lead time and cost. Engineers also devised a new key design that would prevent the key from falling out of the ignition, which caused the engine to stall. The fix was approved but later canceled. Lawmakers will want to know why, and who was involved. Barra may not be willing to name names at this point. She has said she only learned of the problem last December, shortly after being named CEO.

— Q. Shouldn't GM tell owners to stop driving the recalled cars until they are fixed?

GM insists that the cars are safe as long as owners remove anything extra from their key chains, to avoid weighing down the ignition switch. And dealers have permission to give loaner cars to concerned customers until GM can fix their cars. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, who sits on the Senate subcommittee, is among those calling for GM to make a stronger statement and tell owners to stop driving their cars immediately.

NHTSA

— Q. Why didn't NHTSA open an investigation, which is often the first step toward a recall?

As early as 2005, the agency had numerous consumer complaints, service bulletins GM sent to dealers describing the ignition problems and data from a fatal crash in Maryland. And in late 2007, one official recommended investigating reports that air bags in the cars weren't deploying. An agency panel decided against that because it said a trend wasn't evident.

— Q. Did NHTSA get enough information from GM?

Safety regulators have sent GM a special order to get more information on the recall, but the automaker's response isn't due until Thursday.

In his remarks, Friedman says the agency would have ordered the recall if it had the information GM provided only recently. But safety experts say there was other available information at the time that warranted a recall.

— Q. Does NHTSA have the staff and expertise to deal with the volume of data it's getting?

After the Ford-Firestone tire recall in the late 1990s, Congress required automakers to report more information to the government about possible defects. NHTSA also gets more than 40,000 complaints per year from drivers. Lawmakers want to know if they agency has the resources to do its job.

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Associated Press writer Marcy Gordon contributed from Washington.

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Another Apple-Samsung skirmish heads to court

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The fiercest rivalry in the world of smartphones is heading back to court this week in the heart of the Silicon Valley, with Apple and Samsung accusing each other, once again, of ripping off designs and features.

The trial will mark the latest round in a long-running series of lawsuits between the two tech giants that underscore a much larger concern about what is allowed to be patented.

"There's a widespread suspicion that lots of the kinds of software patents at issue are written in ways that cover more ground than what Apple or any other tech firm actually invented," Notre Dame law professor Mark McKenna said. "Overly broad patents allow companies to block competition."

The latest Apple-Samsung case will be tried less than two years after a federal jury found Samsung was infringing on Apple patents. Samsung was ordered to pay about $900 million but is appealing and has been allowed to continue selling products using the technology.

Now, jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in another round of litigation, with Apple Inc. accusing Samsung of infringing on five patents on newer devices, including Galaxy smartphones and tablets. In a counterclaim, Samsung says Apple stole two of its ideas to use on iPhones and iPads.

"Apple revolutionized the market in personal computing devices," Apple attorneys wrote in court filings. "Samsung, in contrast, has systematically copied Apple's innovative technology and products, features and designs, and has deluged markets with infringing devices."

Samsung countered that it has broken technological barriers with its own ultra-slim, lightweight phones.

"Samsung has been a pioneer in the mobile device business sector since the inception of the mobile device industry," Samsung attorneys wrote. "Apple has copied many of Samsung's innovations in its Apple iPhone, iPod, and iPad products."

In the upcoming case, Apple claims Samsung stole a tap-from-search technology that allows someone searching for a telephone number or address on the Web to tap on the results to call the number or put the address into a map. In addition, Apple says Samsung copied "Slide to Unlock," which allows users to swipe the face of their smartphone to use it.

Samsung countered that Apple is stealing a wireless technology system that speeds up sending and receiving data.

The most attention-grabbing claim in the case is Apple's demand that Samsung pay a $40 royalty for each Samsung device running software allegedly conceived by Apple, more than five times more than the amount sought in the previous trial and well above other precedents between smartphone companies. If Apple prevails, the costs to Samsung could reach $2 billion. Apple's costs, if it lost, are expected to be about $6 million.

"You rarely get from the jury what you ask for, so companies aim high," said German patent analyst Florian Mueller. "But in my opinion this is so far above a reasonable level the judge should not have allowed it."

The problem, he said, is that each smartphone has thousands of patented ideas in it; Apple is challenging just five.

Throughout the three years of litigation, Samsung's market share has grown. One of every three smartphones sold last year was a Samsung, now the market leader. Apple, with a typically higher price, was second, with about 15 percent of the global market.

Apple claims the following Samsung products now infringe on Apple patents: Admire, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note II, Galaxy SII, Galaxy SII Epic 4G Touch, Galaxy SII Skyrocket, Galaxy SIII, Galaxy Tab II 10.1 and Stratosphere.

Samsung claims the following Apple products infringe on Samsung patents: iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad mini, iPod touch (fifth generation), iPod touch (fourth generation) and MacBook Pro.

With the San Jose federal courtroom just a 15-minute drive from Apple's Cupertino headquarters, even jury selection can be difficult. In the previous case, several prospective jurors were dismissed because of their ties to the company.

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Follow Martha Mendoza at https://twitter.com/mendozamartha

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Test accurately rules out heart attacks in the ER

WASHINGTON — A simple test appears very good at ruling out heart attacks in people who go to emergency rooms with chest pain, a big public health issue and a huge worry for patients.

A large study in Sweden found that the blood test plus the usual electrocardiogram of the heartbeat were 99 percent accurate at showing which patients could safely be sent home rather than be admitted for observation and more diagnostics.

Of nearly 9,000 patients judged low risk by the blood test and with normal electrocardiograms, only 15 went on to suffer a heart attack in the next month, and not a single one died.

"We believe that with this strategy, 20 to 25 percent of admissions to hospitals for chest pain may be avoided," said Dr. Nadia Bandstein of the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm.

She helped lead the study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and presented Sunday at the cardiology college's annual conference in Washington.

Chest pain sends more than 15 million people to emergency rooms in the United States and Europe each year, and it usually turns out to be due to anxiety, indigestion or other less-serious things than a heart attack. Yet doctors don't want to miss one — about 2 percent of patients having heart attacks are mistakenly sent home.

People may feel reassured by being admitted to a hospital so doctors can keep an eye on them, but that raises the risk of picking up an infection and having expensive care they'll have to pay a share of, plus unnecessary tests.

The study included nearly 15,000 people who went to the Karolinska University hospital with chest pains over two years. About 8,900 had low scores on a faster, more sensitive blood test for troponin, a substance that's a sign of heart damage. The test has been available in Europe, Asia and Canada for about three years, but it is not yet available in the United States.

The patients were 47 years old on average and 4 percent had a previous heart attack. About 21 percent of them wound up being admitted.

Researchers later looked back to see how the blood test and electrocardiogram would have predicted how they fared over the next month.

They figured that in order to find one heart attack in patients like this, 594 would have to be admitted — a huge waste of resources.

A test like this would be "enormously useful," and the study's results are "almost too good to be true," said Dr. Judd Hollander, an emergency medicine specialist at the University of Pennsylvania.

He believes the test should be available in the U.S. and that the amount of evidence that regulators are requiring to approve it is too high.

Dr. Allan Jaffe, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic, said the problem is not what the test rules out, but what it might falsely rule in. It's so sensitive that it can pick up troponin from heart failure and other problems and cause unnecessary tests for that.

"I think the strategy long-term will be proven," but more studies underway now in the U.S. are needed to show that, he said.

___

Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

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Politicians, experts split over fair minimum wage

WASHINGTON — The federal minimum wage has left three-person families below the poverty level since 1980. It's also well shy of the peak of its buying power almost half a century ago.

Is the current $7.25 hourly minimum fair? Is now the time to raise it, and, if so, by how much?

There is no objective answer. It depends on the political slant of lawmakers or the views of economists being asked.

Economic data over the minimum wage's 76-year history doesn't provide definitive help, either. It shows erosion over time in the plight of minimum-wage earners, reflecting what the nation's political system has produced, not necessarily what's fair.

Democrats backed by President Barack Obama are preparing to force election-year votes on gradually increasing today's minimum to $10.10 by 2016, an effort that seems likely to fail in Congress. Republicans generally oppose the proposal, saying it would cost too many jobs.

As a Senate clash over the issue approaches — perhaps this week — here's a look at the equity questions the dispute raises.

Q: What should be the minimum wage's goal?

A: Along with labor and liberal groups, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, sponsor of the $10.10 push, says the aim should be to boost low-earners and their families over the poverty line.

As recently as 1979, when minimum-wage workers earned $2.90 hourly, they made an annual $6,032 for a 40-hour work week. That exceeded that year's federal poverty line of $5,784 for a family of three.

The following year, when the hourly minimum rose to $3.10, a full-time worker earned $6,448. But that dipped below that year's $6,565 poverty level for the same-sized family, and it's stayed beneath the threshold since.

The current $7.25 minimum leaves that worker earning $15,080, well below the 2013 poverty level of $18,552 for a family of three. By reaching $10.10 in 2016, minimum-wage workers would earn $21,008 — surpassing the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's poverty level projection for that year by around $2,300.

Q: What do Republicans say?

A: Many don't offer an alternative figure and say their counterproposal remains a work in progress.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., a leading GOP opponent of Harkin's bill, says an increase to $10.10 is unfair to low-wage workers because it would cost too many of them their jobs — around 500,000, according to a Congressional Budget Office report in February. That same report said 16.5 million low-paid workers would see higher earnings, and about 900,000 people would be lifted over the poverty threshold.

Thune says that while the federal minimum wage isn't going away, regional economies and hiring markets vary so much that states should be allowed to set their own minimum wage levels. All but five states already have minimums, but currently the law requires that the federal level prevail if it is higher than a state's.

Republicans and conservatives also say the focus should be on creating a stronger economy with more jobs and better educated workers who can demand higher wages and not have to rely on a federal minimum.

Q: Historically, has the minimum wage had the same buying power for workers?

A: No. Since it stays stagnant unless Congress votes to change it, its buying power has fluctuated widely and today is well below its peak.

The federal minimum wage first took effect in 1938 and was 25 cents. That was worth about $4.06 in today's dollars, its lowest value, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, which analyzes issues for lawmakers.

The minimum wage crested in value in 1968, when it was $1.60 but had $10.69 in buying power in today's dollars. That was well above today's $7.25.

The peaks and valleys of the minimum wage tend to reflect the political party in power. It didn't change during the 1980s under Republican President Ronald Reagan. The last increase was enacted under President George W. Bush in 2007 after Democrats took control of Congress.

Q: How has the minimum wage compared with workers' average earnings over the years?

A: By that measure, too, the minimum wage has taken some hits in recent years. It's another comparison that supporters cite to argue that it's time to boost the federal minimum.

According to the Congressional Research Service, minimum-wage earners fared best in 1968 compared with their co-workers in private industry. That year, the federal minimum of $1.60 was 54 percent of average private sector earnings of $2.95.

It's eroded since then. The current $7.25 federal minimum was just 36 percent of the $20.31 average in the private sector in November.

Q: Do conservatives concede that point?

A: No. They argue that if the real goal is improving the plight of low-income workers, it would be more efficient to increase the earned income tax credit. That program — started under GOP President Gerald Ford and expanded by Reagan — provides tax breaks to lower-earning families, including government cash payments if their credit exceeds taxes owed.

Conservatives say the credit is more effective because it wouldn't cost jobs and virtually all the money would go to poorer people. Because some minimum-wage workers are members of higher-earning families, about 30 percent of the higher earnings from an increased minimum wage would go to families making over triple the poverty level, the Congressional Budget Office estimates.

One problem: While a minimum-wage increase would be paid by employers, enlarging the earned income tax credit, a $60 billion program, would cost federal taxpayers. That's an additional drain on the Treasury that some Republicans oppose.

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China, Japan stimulus hopes boost global stocks

SEOUL, South Korea — Global stocks were mostly higher Monday on expectations China and Japan will take new steps to spur economic growth.

Most European stock markets gained ground in early trading with Britain's FTSE 100 up 0.2 percent to 6,631.59. Germany's DAX index was nearly flat at 9,585.65 and France's CAC 40 was also almost unchanged at 4,409.91. On Wall Street, stocks were set to extend gains from Friday. Dow and S&P 500 futures were both up 0.3 percent.

Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.9 percent to 14,827.83 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.4 percent to 22,151.06. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5 percent to 5,394.80. Stocks in Southeast Asia and Taiwan also rose but China's Shanghai Composite shed 0.4 percent to 2,033.31.

Investors in Japan anticipated the government or the central bank would announce measures to offset the impact of a sales tax hike. Japan's sales tax will increase to 8 percent from 5 percent on Tuesday, a move needed to help stabilize government finances but also a possible setback to economic recovery.

Harumi Taguchi, principal economist at IHS Global Insight, said an unexpectedly weak industrial output report also added pressure for the Bank of Japan to pursue additional monetary easing.

Japan's industrial production for February fell 2 percent from the previous month due to heavy snowfall and slowing demand for construction-related products, Taguchi said in a report.

Investors also increasingly expect that China's government will take measures to prevent a slowdown in the world's No. 2 economy.

An official manufacturing survey due Tuesday might cement those views after another survey released last week show China's manufacturing at an eight month low.

In South Korea, Seoul's Kospi finished 0.2 percent higher at 1,985.61 after losing ground in early trading. The country's military returned fire into North Korean waters after shells from a North Korean live-fire drill fell south of the rivals' disputed western sea boundary.

Lee Sun-yub, an analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp., said the exchange of fire had little impact on foreign investors in South Korea while some local institutional investors used the incident to take profit.

In energy markets, benchmark crude for May delivery was down 11 cents at $101.53 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 39 cents to close at $101.67 on Friday.

In currencies, the dollar strengthened to 103.21 yen from 102.84 yen late Friday. The euro rose to $1.3786 from $1.3753.

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Startup chirps over buggy food

They're low in fat and high in protein. They emit less greenhouse gas than cattle and produce 12 times as much meat for the same amount of feed. And if three Harvard alumnae get their way, they're coming to a supermarket near you.

They're insects. And, to hear Rose Wang, Laura D'Asaro and Meryl Natow tell it, they're not only the most humane way to eat meat, they're actually delicious — if you dare try them.

"We found people are much happier to eat them as long as the insects aren't in their original form," said Wang, who founded Six Foods with her former roommates last fall after graduating with a degree in psychology. "Our goal is to start getting people accustomed to insects as ingredients."

Who, after all, could resist the idea of a Chocolate Chirp Cookie, even if the key ingredient happened to be crickets?

Compared to the scorpion Wang, 22, once ate on a dare in Beijing, it sounds downright quaint. And that, D'Asaro said, may be the secret to overcoming America's aversion to bugs.

"One of the biggest issues is what to name them to make them sound more appetizing," said the 23-year-old, whose first epicurean encounter with an insect was a fried caterpillar in Tanzania. "That's why we call wax worms, for example, honey bugs, because they live in bees' nests and eat wax and honey."

On April 21, the three will launch a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to raise $30,000 to hire a contract manufacturer to make their first product, Chirps, or cricket chips.

"We talked to natural food stores," D'Asaro said, "but they want to see the product first."

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Spurned co. seeks rail pact delay

Lawyers for spurned commuter rail operator MBCR yesterday sought a 60-day delay to the contract awarded to Keolis Commuter Services to run the commuter rail system, while MBTA lawyers maintained the bidding process was fair.

The Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Co. is arguing that favoritism factored into the eight-year, $2.68 billion contract award to Keolis and said the 60-day injunction would give it time to look for more evidence in MBTA communications.

Judge Mitchell Kaplan took the injunction request under advisement. If granted, the contract takeover set for July 1 would be pushed back to September.

The rail company, which has operated the commuter rail for 12 years, also said the Keolis proposal did not meet minimum requirements, including what lawyers described as a 2-page "promise" of a security plan required under the proposal guidelines.

"MBCR thought it had to submit a plan, not a two-page promise to submit a plan," said David Bodenheimer, a lawyer for MBCR.

"The (request for proposal) is asking for a specific plan."

But MBTA lawyers refuted that claim.

"It acceptably met the stated criteria," Neil McGaraghen, a lawyer for the MBTA, said of Keolis' proposal.

The judge suggested MBCR was exaggerating its claims in the 91-page affidavit it filed in support of the injunction request.

"The affidavit is full of hyperbole, it is full of hearsay," Kaplan said. "Part of me thinks the affidavit was for an audience beyond the court."

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